Sinking in this weeks mire of gaming news that’ll drown all that try to conquer it.

Hello and welcome to a blog post covering the video game releases and news of the week. There may also be a bit non-gaming entertainment news to wrap up the week of May 14 to 20, 2017. That said buckle up, for it is a wild ride of news and mayhem that came pouring out to keep us entertained.

I feel it is important to make sure that my readers knows that what I post about is news that caught my interest. I don’t include all of the gaming news because for one thing it would be close to impossible to chase it all down. Thus this is just the stuff that managed to capture my interest which I pass along to you.

This week’s release slate of games:

Injustice 2

The superhero fighting game based around DC comics is back in action. You take to a variety of locations fighting as a hero or a villain as the story progresses from the first game. You’re either fighting to restore Superman’s previous regime or restore the world and build back up a society. Things take a grave turn when a new menace shows up to throw the balance into question. Published by Warner Brothers Interactive and developed by Ed Boon and his studio NetherRealm Studios. It came out on May 16, 2017 for the Xbox One and PS4. An Android and iOS version came out on May 11, 2017.

The Surge

Set in a dystopian future where overpopulation and a dying planet earth are prominent problems. There are few resources and those deemed to not be necessary will be killed. You are fighting back to keep your life in this ravenged world. The game plays out a bit Dark Souls like where combat is very heavy and requires a bit of momentum to really land your hits. It’s an action RPG with a lot of crafting and danger if you die. The game was developed by Deck13 Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive. It came out on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 16, 2017.

This week in the gaming world of news:

Developer Natsume creator of the well loved Harvest Moon franchise is working on a new game to honor the 20th anniversary of the first release. Titled Harvest Moon: Light of Hope which you will play a shipwrecked player who was searching for a new start when you wash up on a harbor town. There will also be re-releases of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition and Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland for the PS4. For the Wii U there will be a digital port of Harvest Moon 64. Natsume has a nice blog post covering the history of the series.

A new Harvest Moon game is always a welcome announcement in my opinion. They’re generally fantastic games that suck you in for far longer than you imagine. This will be the first time the game comes to PC as well so it opens the doors for plenty of new fans.

Ubisoft has announced two sequels, creating a franchise in The Crew 2, and returning to their franchise Far Cry with the fifth game in the main series which has been titled Far Cry 5 for now. Neither game had much of an announcement other than the confirmation that they’re in the works. Screenrant has the news story.

I find the situation rather curious that both games were sort of halfheartedly announced due to an investor call telling investors about upcoming projects. Ubisoft loves to unveil projects at E3 but with this announcement yet didn’t really do it this time. It’s just weird that it happened this way.

Valve is continuing to make changes to their digital distribution platform, this time targeting trading cards and the business of card farming by developers. To address this issue Valve has decided to institute a detection system that will only allow card drops after a certain criteria has been met. Of course there’s a Valve’s blog post to tell you all you need to know.

Personally I don’t see this working out as well as Valve hopes it will. It will in my opinion be another band-aid situation where developers will eventually figure out how to work around the process that’s coming. You’ll still eventually see games that are there solely for the cards, but they won’t be as prominent until the process has been figured out.

AMD has shown off a brief glimpse of their upcoming VEGA GPU cards. However, what they showed off isn’t meant for regular consumers. This is a high end card meant to help creative types or to work with an AI system. If you’re looking to really dig into the numbers Trustedreviews.com has you covered.

It’s a bit disappointing to hear that this graphics card will be the first of the line and is catering towards a non-gamer audience. It’s also understandable as that’s where the money is especially with high end crazy cards. Making this doubly frustrating is that the gaming versions won’t be coming until later this year, while this high version is slated for the end on June 2017.

Netflix is creating another TV series based around a popular video game, first it was Castlevania now we get a series based on the very popular Witcher. The series will be based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski who will work as a creative consultant, Tomas Baginski who directed the opening to the three games will also be involved directing an episode a season. CD Projekt Red does not appear to be involved. You can check out Ew.com’s post on the news though it doesn’t say much more than what’s already been put out there.

This will be an interesting project to keep an eye on to see if they decide to go more for a feel of the video games, more like the stories, or if they take a completely new original take on the material. I suspect it will take on a feel somewhat original while staying true to the original stories because the author is involved.

Nintendo posted a video showing off a bit more of their upcoming fighting game ARMS. The fighting game features fast fluid movement with extendable arms which you use to throw your punches. Also announced what they call a Global Testpunch where you can try out the game and help them stress test the servers. The game is being developed by Nintendo EAD.

Splatoon 2 also got a sneaky little new trailer showing off a bit of the single player action. Staying true to the first game, this will be more of the same platforming shooter action with boss like creatures and weapons training. This game is also being developed by Nintendo EAD.

The trailer is mostly about ARMS, with Splatoon 2 sneaking in at the very end.

ARMS is starting to get the feeling that it might be a little bit of a gem from Nintendo. It’s the right amount of ridiculous while still having a fair amount of depth to it. Definitely worth keeping on eye on it to see if it delivers. Splatoon 2 looks to be following in the first games footsteps keeping things simple, fast, and a touch ridiculous. It’s another weird Nintendo game that does what it does well, even in such a crowded genre. Both look like they’ll be a blast to play.

Destiny 2 has shown off some game play to show the fans what’s coming in this next iteration. The game keeps things similar enough to the first game while making adjustments to improve game play and the overall feel of the game. An important note to come out during the reveal was that if you’re choosing to play the game on PC the only place you’ll be able to buy it from is Blizzard’s battle.net service. The game is once again being developed by Bungie and published by Activision. IGN has the news story giving a more in depth look.

For me it looks like more of the same from the first game which didn’t draw me in. It’s always possible that it could change, but right now I’m not terrible excited for this one. Also, hopefully the voice acting and writing is much better this time around as those two things went over about as well as a brick through a window in the first game.

I don’t have any non-gaming entertainment news this week. I did however want to bring up a novel I read. Titled, Six Four, its a fascinating look at crime and dealing with the press when you’re the press agent for the police. It’s a noir style with a bit of darkness, frustration, and lots of mysterious moments as you try unweaveing what’s happened to the Japanese police prefecture. I found it hard to put down once I picked it up and read through it in one go. It’s a book well worth checking out and the author is Hideo Yokoyama.

Well enough madness and complete craziness for this week as that will wrap up this week in gaming releases and news. Thank you so much for stopping by, leaving a comment, a like, or a follow.

If you’re looking to get in touch with me you can do so through three ways. There’s the comment section below, you can email me at Lostvideogamesblog@gmail.com, or contact me through twitter at @Snipehockey. I welcome all comments and suggestions for improvements.